England Manager - Another FA cock-up in the making?

[Uncle Buck]

It was only the once though and he had bottled it before. They had also spent an enormous amount of money in doing so, that Lazio team was filled with talent. Salas, Vieri,Mancini, Nesta, Almeyda,Veron,Nedved etc etc.

He was known as a "perdente di lusso", a luxury loser. There were also a lot of rumours that Mancini was the brains behind a lot of the tactics as well.

Not a bad manager, but by no means one of the best.

But then he won a fair bit in Portugal and has had European success.

I do think he is a tad one dimensional tactically, get a fast striker on the shoulder of the last defender and get the ball over the top and the only reason this has changed with England is that Rooney is such a talent.

However his record would suggest he is more of a nearly man.

I guess for Sven and Mancini read Clough and Taylor, sometimes the success is partnerships.

 

[Easy 10]

Wegner and English players is somewhat chequered. In the past he has signed Upson, Pennant and Jeffers and even not given them a chance or shipped them out.

Even when they have come through the system with the exception of Cole, they have generally not featured, Sidwell and Stuart Taylor spring to mind there.

Campbell seems to be the only English one he has signed who has been a success.

True. I was just lamenting the SWP situation more than anything else. How I wish he'd stayed at City or gone to Arsenal. Wenger would make an amazing player out of him.

 

[Uncle Buck]

True. I was just lamenting the SWP situation more than anything else. How I wish he'd stayed at City or gone to Arsenal. Wenger would make an amazing player out of him.

Maybe.

I do think another season at City was the answer, as the chances are he will now end up at the Skunks, which seems to be a hiding to nothing.

 

[enigma]

But then he won a fair bit in Portugal and has had European success.

I do think he is a tad one dimensional tactically, get a fast striker on the shoulder of the last defender and get the ball over the top and the only reason this has changed with England is that Rooney is such a talent.

However his record would suggest he is more of a nearly man.

I guess for Sven and Mancini read Clough and Taylor, sometimes the success is partnerships.

Portugal though- not that difficult to win titles, especially with a team like Benfica.Its a bit like Scotland in terms of the competition.

In five years at Fiorentina and Roma he won one Italian cup. In 5 years at Sampdoria he won one Italian cup, although they were more of a selling team by then.

He won the Cup winners Cup with Lazio, but that was the weakes of the three tournaments. His UEFA cup win with Gothenburg is impressive but that was in the early 80s!

He did win the league title with Lazio, but as I said he spent a lot of money, so I would have been surprised if he hadnt.

His tactics are very predictable, hence why he hasnt won as much as he could have done, given some of the players he works with. I think his main strength is that players like working with him, although I also think he is scared of making big decisions.

He's not a bad manager at all, but he is over-rated by some. Something that says to me that he is not that highly rated is his lack of job offers from Serie A. If he quit England, the only team who would possibly be interested would be Inter, who are hardly a model of success.

 

[Sid James]

Sir Clive Woodward (World Cup winner)

"“People do wonder how much of an effect the coach can have on a game once he’s sent his players out on the pitch,” Woodward writes in the new issue of FourFourTwo. “For the answer, you only have to look to the Brazil quarter-final at the last World Cup: we were 1-0 up and then facing ten men, yet we still lost.

“I’ve watched that game over and over to see what I would have done in that position. I’d hope that Eriksson has done the same in the last four years, otherwise we could be in big trouble.”

Last year, Woodward went to Brazil to share ideas with and learn from Carlos Alberto Parreira, who coached the South Americans to victory in the 1994 World Cup finals and will take charge of them again in Germany. Brazil defeated England 2-1 in the 2002 quarter-finals under the management of Luis Felipe Scolari.

“I asked [Parreira] about that game,” Woodward writes, “and he believes that England were wrong to try to defend their lead. The Brazilian psyche would have been to attack when you have the advantage, he told me, to kill the game off.

“This fascinated me. I’m not saying that England should try to play like Brazil, but it says to me that you’ve actually got to go and win the World Cup, not just sit back and try to watch the clock running down.

“England have gone out of their last two tournaments because they wanted to do just that: defend the lead. It’s interesting to me that the Brazilian mindset is to go out and attack and they have had the greatest success in World Cups. There’s surely a correlation there.”


I couldn't agree more with that statement. It also happened in 2004 against France. Erikssons defensive mindset is a big factor in what always seems to bollocks things up for us when we crucially have the advantage against the better teams. Unfortunately it'll probably return to haunt us again in the summer.

Agree with all of that, it's just that when I look back on that particular game I'm not sure whether the apparent sitting back on the lead was more a sign of us physically fading in the heat.

That said, he should have seen that and done something about it and subsequent events in 2004 in both the France & Portugal games do support that view.

His inaction will probably be our undoing. Perhaps our game plan should be to go a goal behind....

 

[Parson Henry]

Maybe.

I do think another season at City was the answer, as the chances are he will now end up at the Skunks, which seems to be a hiding to nothing.

Who are the skunks Uncle Buck?

 

[Uncle Buck]

He's not a bad manager at all, but he is over-rated by some. Something that says to me that he is not that highly rated is his lack of job offers from Serie A. If he quit England, the only team who would possibly be interested would be Inter, who are hardly a model of success.

I would suspect he will get the Real Madrid job. He is probably viewed as a safe pair of hands, which after the last couple of seasons is what is needed there.

 

[Uncle Buck]

Agree with all of that, it's just that when I look back on that particular game I'm not sure whether the apparent sitting back on the lead was more a sign of us physically fading in the heat.

That Brazil game was unbearably hot in the stands, so gawd knows what it was like on the pitch.

He did get the tactics wrong and their equalising on the stroke of half time threw us, but the heat would have been a factor.

 

[Uncle Buck]

Who are the skunks Uncle Buck?

The Mags.

 

[enigma]

I would suspect he will get the Real Madrid job. He is probably viewed as a safe pair of hands, which after the last couple of seasons is what is needed there.

True, he is a candidate for there, although if he does get the job again it will be because they couldnt get Capello, Ancelotti, Benitez, Wenger, Mourinho etc.

He is a safe pair of hands, and he could do quite well there as at least he would see that the current team is top heavy, although he would have to have the balls to get rid of a couple of the ageing galacticos. I am sure he would have better relations with the players than the current boss, but would he have the nerve to drop Raul, who lets face it has been shit for a good 3 years now?

 

[Uncle Buck]

True, he is a candidate for there, although if he does get the job again it will be because they couldnt get Capello, Ancelotti, Benitez, Wenger, Mourinho etc.

He is a safe pair of hands, and he could do quite well there as at least he would see that the current team is top heavy, although he would have to have the balls to get rid of a couple of the ageing galacticos. I am sure he would have better relations with the players than the current boss, but would he have the nerve to drop Raul, who lets face it has been shit for a good 3 years now?

I thought Raul was injured, even if he is, he is still more useful than Ronaldo!!!

 

[Sid James]

I think the fact that Raul Bravo plays regularly is probably a better sign of where Madrid's problems lie. That and letting Makelele go.

 

[enigma]

I thought Raul was injured, even if he is, he is still more useful than Ronaldo!!!

He is currently, yeah. But he has generally been shit.

Its an interesting debate that one. Ronaldo does f*** all for the team but apart from recently, he is still a lethal finisher. However, I would get rid of him anyway, as I dont think he is a good influence on the team.

Raul has been useless. I just had a look online, and in the last 3 years he has managed 25 goals in 86 games in La Liga. In 2000-2001, he managed that in 36 games. He doesnt even provide that many assists either. I think he has been kept in the team because of who he is, rather than what he has done. By comparison, Ronaldo over the last three seasons has scored 58 in 88. Even this year he has managed 13 in possibly his worst season ever.

I would guess that Real would keep Raul, but I would be tempted to get rid of Ronaldo, Carlos and Zidane. All are past their best, and its time for a clean slate there.

 

[enigma]

I think the fact that Raul Bravo plays regularly is probably a better sign of where Madrid's problems lie. That and letting Makelele go.

Its that simple, it really is. They arent a team, just a collection of a few superstars (mostly past it) and also-rans.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

for swp ruined his carrer by going to Chelsea - I think he will be lucky to go to the world cup.

 

[enigma]

for swp ruined his carrer by going to Chelsea - I think he will be lucky to go to the world cup.

He'll go, cant see who else Sven would take, he wont take Lennon or Pennant. SWP is lucky to go. He should have left City after this year.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

He'll go, cant see who else Sven would take, he wont take Lennon or Pennant. SWP is lucky to go. He should have left City after this year.

Or gone to Arsenal - Lennon has been untouchable this year.

 

[enigma]

Or gone to Arsenal - Lennon has been untouchable this year.

True, that would have been good for him, although sadly they were nowhere near being able to afford him.

Lennon does look very decent, although how good was he for Leeds last year? A friend of mine used to rave about how good he was in their youth team etc and how he was the next big thing, but I never heard much about him in the first team, although I know he made his debut at a young age.

How much did you pay? £1.5 million? Bargain. Presume there are some add-ons. Its funny though, he might have struggled to get a game if Routledge had stayed fit.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

True, that would have been good for him, although sadly they were nowhere near being able to afford him.

Lennon does look very decent, although how good was he for Leeds last year? A friend of mine used to rave about how good he was in their youth team etc and how he was the next big thing, but I never heard much about him in the first team, although I know he made his debut at a young age.

How much did you pay? £1.5 million? Bargain. Presume there are some add-ons. Its funny though, he might have struggled to get a game if Routledge had stayed fit.

£1 million

I thought he looked nothing more than average last year at leeds with no end product - how he has proved me wrong.

 

[enigma]

£1 million

I thought he looked nothing more than average last year at leeds with no end product - how he has proved me wrong.

Bargain. As I said, I knew he had a good reputation before but hadnt heard much about how he had done for their first team. Great bit of business.